Attitudes on Gender Stereotypes and Gender-based Violence among ...

Daphne III Programme: Youth4Youth: Empowering Young People in Preventing Gender-based Violence through Peer Education

Attitudes on Gender Stereotypes and Gender-based Violence among Youth Country report: Greece

Authors: Penelope Sotiriou, Sakis Ntinapogias and Kiki Petroulaki European Anti-Violence Network December 2011

Table of Contents Introduction

3

Methodology

5

Results

11

Discussion

51

Conclusions & Recommendations

56

References

58

Introduction Gender equality means “equal empowerment and participation for both men and women in all spheres of public and private life”. However, “this does not imply that both sexes are the same but rather that they are equal”. “For more than a hundred and fifty years, the women‟s emancipation movement has focused on eliminating the pervasive discrimination experienced by most women and attaining more equal participation of men and women in the life of the community. As a result, the lives of most women and men today differ considerably from those of a century ago”. “Although significant progress has been made in terms of gender equality […] a number of obstacles to gender equality are still a daily reality in Europe” (Council of Europe, 2009).

National Context In Greece, gender equality is nowadays recognized as a fundamental principle and a human right through a series of legislative acts and enactments. The situation, however, concerning the areas of advancement for women1 such as equal access to education, equal opportunities in the labor market, distribution of work in the home and childcare and youth culture, suggests that a lot of work is still needed in Greece in order to achieve gender equality. As for the field of education, “having a look at the sex disaggregated data regarding either the students or the teachers, and also the distribution by sex in decision making positions in education, it is more than evident that the legislative act seem to be inadequate towards the achievement of de facto equality; this occurs because it is an issue of social perception, mentality and stereotypes regarding both sexes as well as their roles” (Πετροσλάκη και σσν, 2008). Concerning the labor market in Greece, although women‟s representation has increased in occupations that require particular educational qualifications, which were historically considered as male strongholds, currently unemployment continues to be higher among females than among males, regardless of age group or educational qualifications. In 2006, for example, female unemployment was 13.6%, while male unemployment was 5.6% (Spinthourakis, 2008b). Nowadays, the situation remains more or less the same: examining the data published by the National Statistical 1

Service of Greece in June 2012 for the years 2007 to 2012, female unemployment is consistently 6% higher than male unemployment (Δλληνική Στατιστική Αρτή, 2012). Especially, after starting the financial crisis, unemployment for women rose from 19.2% in 2011 to 25.8% in 2012 (the respective percentages for the male population are 13.2% for 2011 and 18.9% for 2012 respectively) (Δλληνική Στατιστική Αρτή, 2012). In addition to unemployment, the gender pay gap in Greece is of note. In February 2007, the Bank of Greece published a study on “Education, Labour and Wage Differentials” in the country. “In examining the gender wage differentials across the whole pay distribution and on an average level, the study findings revealed [among others] that women‟s earnings averaged about 84% of those of their male counterparts” (Papapetrou, 2007). Political participation of women in Greece still remains far from achieving equality. According to a National Report sent to the United Nations in 2001, Greece was described as “a society that continues to assume that men wield more authority than women” suggesting that “politics still obviously remain male-dominated”. In 2007, “statistics indicated that less than 10 percent of Greece‟s national parliament was composed of women, in contrast to 7 other countries in the European Union that had a composition greater than 30 percent” (United Nations, 2001). In 2012 the situation has not improved dramatically, as only 61 women deputies were elected in June 2012 (20.33%, slightly higher than the percentage in the elections of 2009, where 59 females were elected out of 300 deputes). It is of note that in the current (2012) government which is called on to handle a very difficult situation and make particularly important decisions, only 2 women are participating in the 39-person governmental scheme (ministers and vice-ministers). Apart from participation in social areas such as education, labor and political participation, the situation concerning intimate/dating partner violence –an issue that is also directly related to the patriarchal structure of society, is not the desired one. The unique national epidemiological study for domestic violence in Greece (conducted in 2002-2003, with a sample of 1200 women aged 18-60) showed that 56% of women reported that they had experienced verbal and/or psychological abuse, 3.6% reported physical abuse and 3.5% sexual abuse (ΚΔΘΙ, 2003. Τσιριγώτη και 2

σσν, 2011). Only 8.8% of women, however, considered that their partners/husbands are violent; this result suggests that Greek society is in general quite tolerant of intimate partner violence and this is why women do not consider verbal or psychological abuse by their partners as violent behaviors. Also, the fact that 39.7% out of 5.3% of women who had a previous marriage or intimate relationship reported that they had been victims of their partners, indicates that the reported low percentages of physical and sexual abuse lead to underestimation of the real magnitude of the problem in Greece. Moreover, direct and indirect estimation of the magnitude of intimate partner violence was attempted in the context of the DAPHNE project entitled “Improving the Response to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in Military Settings” (Petroulaki et al, 2006b): in a questionnaire-based study, participants (227 male conscripts with mean age 22,4 years) were asked to report intimate partner violence cases that they were aware of as well as their own experiences as observers, victims or perpetrators. A high percentage of the respondents reported that they knew of at least one couple where the man hit the woman in their neighborhood (27%), among their friends (16%) and in their families (3%). Moreover, more than 60% of the soldiers believed that in more than half of the couples the man insults his wife/partner. They also responded (44.9%) that they had exercised verbal abuse against their own intimate partners and that they were victims of verbal abuse by their intimate partners (36.3%). Another percentage of young males reported that they have abused physically (13.5%) or sexually (10.8%) their partners, while 6.4% and 19.8% of them reported that they were victims of physical abuse and sexual abuse by their partners respectively. In a study conducted in 2003 with a sample of 486 young girls (15-21 years old), more than half of the participants (61.5%) reported that they had suffered at least one form of intimate partner violence (physical, sexual or psychological abuse) in the context of their current (or previous) intimate relationship. One out of 3 participants reported being a victim of physical abuse (35.2%) and almost 4 out of 10 (37.9%) of sexual abuse. The most frequent form of violence was psychological abuse (threatens, verbal abuse, controlling behavior by their partners). Last but not least, it is of note that 20% of young women believed that -under “specific conditions”- physical abuse

3

of a women by her partner (e.g. if she was unfaithful), as well as forced sexual contact within marriage, is acceptable (Pentaraki, 2003. Τσιριγώτη και σσν, 2011). According to the results of the DAPHNE project entitled “Date Rape Cases among Young Women: Strategies for Support and Prevention”, 142 women (18-24 years old) out of the 478 of the Greek sample reported that they were forced to have sex against their will: 24 out of 328 women reported that they were raped by a person who had a form of power over them and 32 out of 332 women reported that they were raped because they were afraid to say “no” (MIGS, 2008. Τσιριγώτη και σσν, 2011). Gender equality means equal authorization and participation of both sexes in all spheres of both public and private life. Gender is related to a person's position in society, his/her identity, how s/he perceives him/herself; moreover, gender influences the way of thinking and feeling (Bakardzieva, 2005). All of the above mentioned problematic situations -concerning either people's social participation or private lifeare related to non-equal treatment of genders and their origin is strongly related to the existence of well-established gender stereotypes. Gender stereotypes are formed when society attributes and strengthens generic characteristics or roles toward men and women, such as greater emotional expression in women, greater tendencies toward violence and aggression in men. Characteristics and roles stereotypically attributed to women and men can be misleading and therefore can lead to situations -as those mentioned above- which prevent gender equality. It is encouraging, however, that these stereotypes are related to genders and not to sexes, which if identified early, could be changed through appropriate interventions with young people.

Aims In this context, the main aim of the study was to explore young students‟ attitudes on issues related to gender stereotypical roles, stereotypical behaviors of both men and women in romantic (intimate or dating) relationships and violent behaviors between partners in such relationships. Moreover, the study aimed to explore any differences in these attitudes among boys and girls. According to the study‟s results, appropriate modifications of the educational material for the “Youth 4 Youth” intervention will be made, where needed. The exploration of gender-based violence related experiences was not included in the aims of the study, as this issue was out of the scope of the programme “Youth 4 Youth”. 4

Methodology Schools Four public lyceums, out of the five invited, participated in the Youth4Youth questionnaire study. All schools were located in the Attica region; one in the center of Athens, two in the southern suburbs and one in the northern suburbs. Three of them were General schools and one was Artistic school. Participants A total of 699 students participated in the Y4Y questionnaire study, of whom 57.5% were female (402 girls) and 42.5% were male (297 boys). In regards to students‟ demographic characteristics, as derived from the questionnaires collected, participants‟ ages ranged from 15 to 20 years old (M = 16.61, SD = .870). Out of the 699 students, 34.3% were in the 1st grade of lyceum, 33.5% in the 2nd and 32.2% in the 3rd grade respectively. Table 1 presents the number of students that participated in the study by school, grade and sex. As for participants‟ nationalities, the vast majority of the students were of Greek nationality (91.9%) and a small portion of Albanian nationality (4.8%) (see Table 2). The majority of participants (92.3%) have been raised in a city with over 100.000 residents, while small percentages have been raised in a town of 1.500 to 15.000 residents (5.1%) and in a village (2.6%). Table 1: Number of participants by school, grade and sex N participated Name of School Males

A 21

Grade B 12

C 25

Females

18

27

18

63

Males

33

37

43

113

Females

43

50

47

140

Males

45

32

25

102

Females

42

49

37

128

Artistic Males Lyceum of Females Gerakas Total

12

5

7

24

26

22

23

71

240

234

225

699

38th Lyceum of Athens 3rd Lyceum of Keratsini 4th Lyceum of Keratsini

Total 58

5

Table 2: Students‟ nationality (frequency) Greek

635

Bulgarian

1

Albanian

33

Swiss

1

Cypriot

3

Ukrainian

1

Russian

3

Belgian

1

English

2

Spanish

1

Swedish

2

Lebanon

1

Moldavian

2

Pakistan

1

Egyptian

1

Romanian

1

Regarding the existence of a romantic or intimate relationship, 84.3% of students replied that they had a romantic relationship up to that time compared to 14.2% that replied negatively; however, 1.6% did not answer this question. Of the participants that answered that they had a romantic relationship, 57.7% were females and 42.3% were males. For the question regarding the number of romantic relationships that students had during the last two years, more than 7 out of 10 students (74%) answered that they had 1 to 3 romantic relationships (29.6% had 1 relationship, 28.1% 2 relationships, 16.3% 3 relationships), while 2 out of 10 (21%) responded that they had more than 3 romantic relationships (3-21 relationships) and 1 out of 10 (5%) that they did not have a romantic relationship during the last two years. As for this time period, almost half of the students (51.4%) reported that they have a romantic relationship, with duration of 1 to 6 months (37.6%), 6 to 12 months (21.5%), 13 months to 2 years (16.2%), over 2 years (9.9%), and 14.9% reported that they have just started to date. Description of Measures Apart from the demographic/background information, the questionnaire consisted of two main parts. Part I aimed at measuring attitudes regarding gender –and specifically concerning women- on the basis of a 16-item scale. The scale is a combination of some widely used scales from literature (items 1-12 from the Attitudes Toward Women Scale for Adolescents “AWSA” which was developed to assess adolescents‟ attitudes toward women‟s rights and roles (Galambos et al, 1985), items 13-15 from the gender stereotype scale initially developed by Foshee et al (1982) and item 16 derived from a 6

survey conducted in the context of a previous Daphne Project “Perspective”. The rationale behind the inclusion of items from multiple research instruments was to explore whether students‟ attitudes shift when the items referred to different age ranges (adults vs. adolescents) and whether they could function differently as predictors of attitudes towards gender-based violence. The four response categories for this part of the questionnaire were strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree. As for its reliability, the Attitudes toward Women Scale (questionnaire items I.1 to I.16), after reversing items 3, 5, 7, 9 and 12, were found to have a good reliability indicator (Cronbach‟s α = .819). Part II of the questionnaire consisted of three sub-scales related to attitudes toward gender-based violence. The aim of the first sub-scale “Attitudes toward Violence” (II.A1 to II.C2, total 22 items) was to assess the degree to which students condone gender based violence and was mainly based on the “Young people‟s views on relationships” developed by Zero Tolerance in the context of a national survey in England and Scotland (Burton et al, 1998). The response categories for this subscale were Never OK, Sometimes OK, Often OK, and Always OK. The Attitudes toward Violence Scale was found to have a good reliability indicator (Cronbach‟s α = .804). The second subscale “Justifications of Violence” (21 items) concerning “potential reasons” that people give to explain why men are sometimes violent toward women – namely justification of intimate partner violence. The subscale was based (a) on the above mentioned instrument developed by Zero Tolerance and (b) on the “Acceptance of Couple Violence” scale concerning attitudes and beliefs‟ assessment on topics such as male on female violence, female on male violence and acceptance of general dating violence, developed by CDC (Dahlberg et al, 2005). The four response categories for this subscale were Never, Sometimes, Often, and Always. The Justifications of Violence Scale was also found to have a good reliability indicator (Cronbach‟s α = .835). The last subscale, “Knowledge-Myths” (19 items), also based on the above mentioned scales, as well as on a questionnaire developed in the context of the Daphne III project “Perspective”, was intended to measure the extent of students‟ agreement with various myths about gender-based violence. The four response categories for this part of the questionnaire were strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree. The 7

Knowledge-Myths Scale was found to have an acceptable reliability indicator (Cronbach‟s α = .633). The target group for all of the above mentioned scales were students of secondary education, aged 15-17 years old.

Procedure Followed In order to secure that the conduction of the Y4Y questionnaire study would take place during the school year 2011-2012, a series of several preparation actions were undertaken beforehand. 1. Identification of schools: The identification of schools that would be interested to participate in the Y4Y questionnaire study started in May 2011. Five secondary schools were identified on the basis of their location (all in Attica region) and their type (all public lyceums). It should be noted here that, among the five schools identified, 2 lyceums already had a previous cooperation with EAVN in the context of other projects and EAVN addressed to them considering that it would be easier –in terms of communication and cooperation- to implement this project too. 2. Preparation of school invitations: After the identification of schools, invitations were prepared in order to inform school principals about the project‟s identity and aims, the study‟s aims and procedure, as well as the project‟s additional activities such as school exhibitions and the Informational Teachers‟ Workshop, and to raise their interest in the project. The invitations were sent to the five schools in June 2011. 3. Request and obtainment of permission: After the schools‟ positive answers were collected, EAVN prepared and submitted an application to the Ministry of Education, Lifelong Activities and Religious Affairs, and more specifically to the Pedagogical Institute, in order to obtain the official approval for the Y4Y questionnaire study‟s conduction. The application was submitted on the 27th of September, 2011. However, after three months, the Pedagogical Institute asked for the

application to be resubmitted, after following their suggestions and

making two changes in the content of the Y4Y questionnaire: (a) to replace the word “OK” with the word “RIGHT” for several items and (b) to replace the word

8

“sex” with the phrase “sexual intercourse”1. In the resubmission, on the 11th of January, 2012, EAVN (a) proposed to replace the work “OK” with the respective Greek word “ΔΝΤΑΞΔΙ”, and not with the word “RIGHT”, arguing that it would change the meaning of items and it would provoke a methodological issue in the research tools, and (b) to replace the word “sex” with the phrase “sexual intercourse”. After this, the approval for the Y4Y questionnaire study was obtained on the 7th of February, 2012. 4. Communication with schools: After the obtainment of the official permission, EAVN, on the 13th of February, 2012, contacted the five invited schools in order firstly to ensure their participation in the research and secondly to arrange the briefing, informative visits in schools. One lyceum was not willing to participate in the Y4Y study, due to time constraints. 5. Informative visits in schools: EAVN‟s staff visited the four schools, from the 28th of February to the 9th of March, 2012 (see also Table 3), in order to raise students‟ interest to participate in the study. In these visits, EAVN‟s staff approached students in their classrooms, for 10 minutes on average, in order to introduce them on theY4Y project‟s aims, identity and research, explaining the importance of participating in the study and clarifying some issues related to the completion of questionnaire, such as anonymity and confidentiality regarding the data. During these visits, students were also asked for their parents‟ consent for their participation in the study, by giving them the respective forms in order to have them completed by their parents; adult students did not have to return a parental consent form. 6. Completion of questionnaires: After communication with school principals in order to ensure that the school curriculum would not be disrupted, EAVN‟s staff visited the four schools for the completion of questionnaires from the 1st of March to the 27th of April, 2012 (see also Table 3). Questionnaires were completed within the regular school curriculum and their completion‟s duration ranged from 20 to 40 minutes. Before handing out the questionnaires, EAVN‟s staff asked students to return their parental consent forms, as well as the students themselves if they wanted to participate in the study or not, so that students who were not willing to participate could be excluded.

1

With the phrase «ερωτική επαυή» in Greek.

9

Table 3: Timeline of basic activities in the 4 schools Activities Name of School Information Questionnaire visit completion 38th Lyceum of Athens 28th February 1st March 3rd Lyceum of Keratsini 8th March 15th March 4th Lyceum of Keratsini 8th March 16th March Artistic Lyceum of Gerakas 9th March 27th March & 27th April

10

Results A. ATTITUDES TOWARD WOMEN A set of questions was used in order to assess students‟ stereotypical attitudes toward women. Students were asked to assess the 16 statements presented in Table A.1 in order to indicate the degree to which they agree or disagree with each one on a 4-point scale (1 = strongly disagree to 4 = strongly agree); which means, the closer to 1, the less tolerant and conservative towards violence is the attitude declared and vice versa, the closer to 4 the more tolerant and conservative the attitude. The “desired” attitude for all of the questions that follow is for students to strongly disagree with all of the statements that describe stereotypical attitudes toward women. Descriptives Mean ratings, standard deviations and cumulative percentages of students‟ agreement with statements regarding stereotypical attitudes toward women are illustrated in Table A.1. Specifically, almost 4 out of 5 students seem to hold conservative and patriarchal attitudes believing that “swearing is worse for a girl than for a boy” and that “most girls like to show off their bodies”, while more than 3 out of 5 students believe that “most boys go out with girls just for sex”. Additionally, a percentage of students ranging from 26.5% to 53.3% seem to hold a supportive stance for several gender stereotypical statements and to agree with “the boy should be expected to pay all expenses on a date”, “it is more accepted for a boy to have many sexual partners than for a girl”, “most girls cannot be trusted”, “boys are better leaders than girls” and “on the average, girls are not as smart as boys”. More than 3 out of 5 students seem to hold less stereotypical attitudes towards women as for boys and girls equal rights, as they believe that “it is all right for a girl to ask a boy out on a date” or “to want to play rough sports like football”, as well as “girls should have the same freedoms as boys”, while concerning equality in education, more than 4 out of 5 students, believe that “it is more important for boys than girls to do well in school”, that “more encouragement in a family should be given to sons than daughters to go to college” and that “girls should not be more concerned with becoming good wives and mothers rather than desiring a professional or business career”. In regards to the stereotypical gender roles of males and females, the majority of students supported that “in general the father should not have greater authority than the mother in making the family decisions” (4 out of 5 students), as well as they 11

realized that “if both spouses have jobs, they should share of the housework such as washing dishes and doing the laundry” (more than 3 out of 5 students). Table A.1. Mean ratings and percentages of students‟ agreement with statements regarding stereotypical attitudes toward women Please indicate whether you agree or disagree with Agree & each of the statements below (1 = strongly disagree Total Strongly to 4 = strongly agree): Agree N M SD % 1. Swearing is worse for a girl than for a boy. 697 3.06 .787 80.6 13. Most girls like to show off their bodies. 693 3.01 .751 79.3 14. Most boys like to go out with girls just for sex. 694 2.76 .822 64.1 2. On a date, the boy should be expected to pay all 695 2.43 .854 53.3 expenses. 16. It is more accepted for a boy to have many 697 2.43 .994 48.8 sexual partners than for a girl. 15. Most girls can‟t be trusted. 697 2.43 .915 45.9 10. Boys are better leaders than girls. 695 2.19 1.00 34.4 3. On the average, girls are as smart as boys.* 690 2.07 .857 26.5 7. It is all right for a girl to ask a boy out on a date.* 692 1.90 .759 17.3 5. It is all right for a girl to want to play rough 694 1.89 .846 18.7 sports like football.* 9. If both husband and wife have jobs, the husband should do a share of the housework such as 693 1.86 .830 14.7 washing dishes and doing the laundry.* 6. In general, the father should have greater authority than the mother in making family 699 1.83 .913 22.0 decisions. 11. Girls should be more concerned with becoming good wives and mothers rather than desiring a 695 1.80 .844 18.0 professional or business career. 12. Girls should have the same freedom as boys.* 697 1.57 .778 12.9 4. More encouragement in a family should be given 693 1.45 .714 8.50 to sons than daughters to go to college. 8. It is more important for boys than girls to do well 697 1.41 .644 4.90 in school. Attitudes toward Woman Scale (all items) 693 2.13 .831 * Reversed items. Gender comparisons In Table A.2 below, mean scores of the “Attitudes Toward Women” scale are presented per sex and item. In general, boys provided more conservative answers in comparison with the girls (mean of mean scores of the 16 items was 2.39 and 1.94 for boys and girls respectively). This difference between boys and girls is statistically significant (F=241,14, df=1, p90%, there are specific cases, however, where both, boys and girls, seem to be quite tolerant. Statements with responses close to zero tolerance were: “it is OK for a boy to hit his girlfried if she is constantly nagging/ arguing” (98.5% and 95.3% for girls and boys respectively), “it is OK for a girl to hit her boyfriend if he is constantly nagging/ arguing” (92.5% and 94.9% for girls and boys respectively). On the other hand, students‟ responses were particulary “tolerant” for the statement “It is OK for a boy to shout at his girlfriend if she is not treating him with respect”, as 9 out of 10 boys and girls agreed or strongly agreed. In general, boys seem to be more tolerant toward boys‟ violent behavior against their partners and girls, on the other hand, are more tolerant toward girls‟ violent behaviour against their partners. Items with major differences between sexes where boys seemed to be more tolerant than girls are: “it is OK for a boy to push a girl into having sex if they have been dating” (45.1% vs. 78.5% of boys and girls respectively responded “never”), “it is OK for a boy to push a girl into having sex if she has been flirting with him all night” (49.8% vs. 83% of boys and girls respectively responded “never”), “it is OK for a boy to hit his girlfriend if she has been unfaithful” (64.2% vs. 90% of boys and girls respectively responded “never”), “it is OK for a boy to set limits on how his girlfriend dresses” (23.7% vs. 47.8% of boys and girls respectively responded “never”), and “it is OK for a boy to for a boy to push a girl into having sex if he has spent a lot of money on her” (75.8% vs. 96% of boys and girls respectively responded “never”).

25

Zero tolerance (% answer "Never")

Girls

Boys

It is OK for a boy to hit his girlfriend if she is constantly nagging/arguing It is OK for a girl to hit her boyfriend if he is constantly nagging/arguing

92.5 94.9

It is OK for a girl to insult her boyfriend in front of others

92.5 93.8

98.5 95.3

It is OK for a boy to hit his girlfriend if she is not treating him with respect It is OK for a girl to hit her boyfriend if he is not treating her with respect

85.5 89

It is OK for a boy to insult his girlfriend in front of others

86.9

89.6

It is OK to threatening to hit a partner as long as you don‟t actually hit him/her It is OK to threaten to leave a partner in order to achieve something you want

72.2 54.9

79.1

78.3

It is OK for a boy to push a girl into having sex if he has spent a lot of money on her

96

75.8 68.6 74.2

It is OK for a girl to set limits on how her boyfriend dresses

72.1 71.8

It is OK for a girl to hit her boyfriend if he has been unfaithful It is OK for a boy to hit his girlfriend if she has been unfaithful

90

64.2

It is OK for a boy to spy on the mobile phone of his girlfriend

61.6 43.6

It is OK for a girl to set limits to where her boyfriend goes It is OK for a boy to push a girl into having sex if she has been flirting with him all night It is OK for a boy to push a girl into having sex if they have been dating It is OK for a girl to shout at her boyfriend if he is constantly nagging/arguing

37.7 56.1

35.9 10

83 78.5

45.1 26.5

71.2

59.5

49.8

It is OK for a boy to set limits to where his girlfriend goes 25.8

It is OK for a boy to set limits on how his girlfriend dresses It is OK for a boy to shout at his girlfriend if she is constantly nagging/arguing It is OK for a boy to shout at his girlfriend if she is not treating him with respect

97.8

82.4 81

It is OK for a girl to spy on the mobile phone of her boyfriend

It is OK for a girl to shout at her boyfriend if he is not treating her with respect

98.2

23.7 14.9

47.8

28.9

10.5 11.4

Figure B.1: Percentages of response “Never” (zero tolerance) provided by students to statements describing violent behaviors between intimate/dating partners per sex. Respectively, items with major differences between sexes where girls seemed to be more tolerant than boys are: “it is OK for a girl to shout at her boyfriend if he is not treating her with respect” (10% vs. 25.8% of girls and boys respectively responded

26

“never”), “it is OK for a girl to shout at her boyfriend if he is constantly nagging/arguing” (26.5% vs. 37.7% of girls and boys respectively responded “never”), “it is OK for a girl to set limits to where her boyfriend goes” (43.6% vs. 59.5% of girls and boys respectively responded “never”), and “it is OK for a girl to spy on the mobile phone of her boyfriend” (54.9% vs. 78.3% of girls and boys respectively responded “never”). In Figures B.2.1 to B.2.11 below are presented boys‟ and girls‟ responses concerning specific violent behaviors of one intimate/dating partner against the other (in most

It is OK It is OK for a boy for a girl to insult to insult his her girlfriend boyfriend in front of in front of others others

cases boys and girls are considered as both, victims and perpertrators).

Girls Boys Girls Boys 80%

Never OK

85%

Some times OK

90% Often OK

95%

100%

Always OK

Figure B.2.1: Percentage (%) of students‟ responses per sex Both, boys and girls are not tolerant toward one partner insulting the other; boys, however, are less tolerant when “a girl insults her partner in front of others” than when a boy does it (6.1% vs. 13%) and girls are less tolerant “when a boy insults his

It is OK for a boy to spy on the mobile phone of his girlfrien d

It is OK for a girl to spy on the mobile phone of her boyfrien d

partner in front of others” than when a girl does it (2.1% vs. 7.5%).


Never OK

20%

Some times OK

40% Often OK

60%

80%

100%

Always OK

Figure B.2.2. Percentage (%) of students‟ responses per sex 27

Students seem to consider as acceptable for one partner to spy on the other‟s mobile phone; again boys are more tolerant “when boys spy on their girlfriends‟ mobile” than the opposite (38.3% vs. 21.7%) and girls “when girls spy on their boyfriends‟ mobile phones” respectively (45.1% vs. 28.8%). Namely, almost 4 out of 10 girls considered

It is OK for a boy to set limits on how his girlfriend dresses

It is OK for a girl to set limits on how her boyfriend dresses

that “it is OK for a girl –at least sometimes- to spy on her boyfriend‟s mobile phone”.


Never OK

20%

40%

Some times OK

60%

Often OK

80%

100%

Always OK

Figure B.2.3. Percentage (%) of students‟ responses per sex When students were asked whether they considered as okay for a boy and for a girl to set limits on “how their partners dress”, responses of boys and girls were differentiated according to the sex of the person who is limited about the way s/he is dressed. Specifically, students were more tolerant in cases where “a boy sets limits on how his girlfriend dresses” (positive answers 76.4% and 52.3% for boys and girls respectively) than in cases where “a girl sets limits on how her boyfriend dresses” (25.8% and 31.5% for boys and girls respectively). It could be noted here that it is ok for a man to set limits on how his partner dresses seems to be a stereotypical attitude

It is OK for a boy to set limits to where his girlfrien d goes

It is OK for a girl to set limits to where her boyfrie nd goes

common for both, boys and girls.

Girls Boys Girls Boys

0% Never OK

20%

Some times OK

40% Often OK

60%

80%

100%

Always OK

Figure B.2.4. Percentage (%) of students‟ responses per sex 28

More than 6 out of 10 boys and 4 out of 10 girls considered that –at least sometimes“it is OK for a boy to set limits to where his girlfriend goes”. The pattern of students‟ responses for the oposite i.e. when “a girl to set limits to where her boyfriend goes”, is quite the reverse, as 6 out of 10 girls and 4 out of 10 boys agreed that it is OK at

It is OK for a boy to shout at his girlfriend if she is constantly nagging/ar guing

It is OK for a girl to shout at her boyfriend if he is constantly nagging/ar guing

least sometimes.


Never OK

20%

Some times OK

40% Often OK

60%

80%

100%

Always OK

Figure B.2.5. Percentage (%) of students‟ responses per sex “Shouting at a intimate/dating partner” seems to be quite an acceptable behavior for both boys and girls either when a boy “shouts at his girlfriend” or “when a girl shouts at her boyfriend if she/he is constantly nagging or arguing”: the respective percentages of positive answers –namely “it is OK”- were 85.2% and 71% for boys and girls respectively “when a boy shouts at his girlfriend” and 62.4% and 73.5% for boys and girls respectively “when a girl shouts at her boyfriend”. Again, boys were

It is OK for a boy It is OK to shout at for a girl to shout at his girlfriend her if she is boyfriend if he is not not treating treating her with him with respect respect

more tolerant toward boys and girls toward girls.


Never OK

20%

Some times OK

40%

Often OK

60%

80%

100%

Always OK

Figure B.2.6. Percentage (%) of students‟ responses per sex

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Students were more tolerant “when a partner shouts at his/her partner if she/he was not treating him/her with respect” than “when s/he is constantly nagging/arguing”. In all cases, more than 3 out of 4 students considered that this behavior is OK. The lowest positive percentage (74.3%) was given by boys when “a girl shouts at her

It is OK It is OK for a boy for a girl to hit his to hit her girlfriend boyfriend if she is if he is constantly constantly nagging/ar nagging/ar guing guing

boyfriend if he is not treating her with respect”.


Never OK

90%

92%

Some times OK

94% Often OK

96%

98%

100%

Always OK

It is OK It is OK for a boy to hit his for a girl girlfriend to hit her if she is boyfriend if he is not not treating treating her with him with respect respect

Figure B.2.7. Percentage (%) of students‟ responses per sex


Never OK

80%

Some times OK

85% Often OK

90%

95%

100%

Always OK

Figure B.2.8. Percentage (%) of students‟ responses per sex As depicted in Figures B.2.7 and B.2.8, hitting of a partner by the other, regardless of the sex of both, victim and perpetrator, is a behavior that students show no tolerance, which also holds true for the case “the partner is constantly nagging/arguing” and “if s/he is not treating his/her partner with respect”. In the latter case, however, 1 out of 10 boys provided a positive answer when the perpetrator is a boy and respectively 14.6% of girls provided a positive answer when the perpetrator is a girl.

30

It is OK for a girl to hit her boyfriend if he has been unfaithful It is OK for a boy to hit his girlfriend if she has been unfaithful


Never OK

20% Some times OK

40%

60%

Often OK

80%

100%

Always OK

Figure B.2.9. Percentage (%) of students‟ responses per sex On the other hand, hitting of the partner seems to be a more acceptable behavior when “the partner has been unfaithful”. Specifically, 35.8% of boys and 10% of girls considered that at least sometimes “it is OK for a boy to hit his girlfriend if she has been unfaithful” and 28% of boys and girls considered that at least sometimes “it is OK for a girl to hit her boyfriend if he has been unfaithful”. In this case, it seems that girls are less tolerant towards boys-perpetrators, while boys are more tolerant towards

It is OK to threaten to leave a partner in order to achieve something you want

It is OK to threatenin g to hit a partner as long as you don‟t actually hit him/her

boys-perpetrators.


Never OK

20%

Some times OK

40% Often OK

60%

80%

100%

Always OK

Figure B.2.10. Percentage (%) of students‟ responses per sex Almost 1 out of 5 students, boys and girls, considered that “it is OK for a partner to threaten to hit his/her partner as long as he/she does not actually hit him/her”, as well as “to threaten to leave his/her partner in order to achieve something he/she wants”.

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It is OK for a boy to push a girl into having sex if he has spent a lot of money on her It is OK for a boy to push a girl into having sex if they have been dating It is OK for a boy to push a girl into having sex if she has been flirting with him all night

Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys 0%

Never OK

Some times OK

20%

40%

Often OK

60%

80%

100%

Always OK

Figure B.2.11. Percentage (%) of students‟ responses per sex As for the set of questions concerning whether “it is OK for a boy to push a girl into having sex” under different conditions, boys in general are more tolerant in all cases than girls. Specifically, for the case when “she has been flirting with him all night”, 50.2% of boys provided positive responses (vs. 17.1% of girls). For the case when “they have been dating”, 54.9% of boys considered that –at least sometimes- “it is OK for a boy to push a girl into having sex” while only 21.5% of girls had the same opinion. Lastly, 1 out of 4 boys considered that –at least sometimes- “it is OK for a boy to push a girl into having sex if he has spent a lot of money on her” while only 3.9% of girls shared the same opinion. These results suggest that stereotypical attitudes mainly of boys (but also of girls in some cases) on issues related to sexual behavior of boys against girls are still quite strong.

C. JUSTIFICATIONS OF VIOLENCE For assessing students‟ attitudes towards common and well-established -but in their majority non valid- justifications of men/boys violence against women/girls, a 20item scale was used. Among the scale‟s items there were also statements including justifying why some men are violent towards women such as “because they want to control women” and “because they consider themselves superior to women”, which can be considered as the real reason for gender-based violence and violence between intimate/dating partners. Although students were asked to declare on the basis of a 4point scale (never, sometimes, often and always) whether they considered each individual “justification” as a sufficient reason for men/boys abusive behavior against women/girls, they actually declared whether they justify violence of men against 32

women. For positive answers (other than “never”) students had to indicate the frequency they consider as justifiable men‟s violent behavior against women. This means, the closer to 1, the less tolerant the attitude towards men‟s violence against women and the opposite, the closer to 4 the more tolerant the attitude towards men‟s violence against women. Descriptives The justifications that were rated by the total sample of students (including boys and girls) highly as the real reasons (even if they are not) for some men expressing violent behaviors against women were the following: because “they cannot control their anger” and “because they are jealous” (mean 2.79), “because they consider themselves superior to women” (2.68), “because they want to control women” (2.66), “because of alcohol and drug use” (2.65), “because they have mental problems” (2.63) and “because they are physically stronger than women” (2.52). On the other hand, other falsified beliefs that were considered in the past as sufficient reasons for why some men are violent against women seem to have no power any longer, according to the students‟ ratings. Some examples of such kind of reasons justifying why some men are violent against women were “because it is necessary” (1.16), “because that makes them attractive to women” (1.39), “because women like it” (1.77), “because they are under stress” (1.84) and “because women are not patient or tender enough with them” (1.93). Table C.1. Mean ratings of students‟ answers on statements regarding common justifications of violent behaviors Some men are violent toward women because... M SD 15. … they cannot control their anger 2.79 .752 12. … they are jealous 2.79 .808 14. ... they consider themselves superior to women 2.68 .874 7. ...they want to control women 2.66 .863 1. ...of alcohol or drug use 2.65 .721 13. .... they have mental problems 2.63 .876 6. ...they are physically stronger than women 2.52 .925 9. ...they were abused as children 2.43 .828 3. ...they can‟t control their sexual urges 2.42 .775 20. ... they can‟t take „‟no‟‟ for answer 2.39 .826 4. ...women provoke them 2.20 .748 11. ... they are naturally aggressive 2.19 .870 10. ... no one stops them 2.12 .852 2. ...they misunderstand women 2.09 .797 33

5. ...women are not patient or tender enough with them 8. ... they are under stress 17. ... women like it 16. ... society expects them to 18. ... that makes them attractive to women 19. ... it is necessary

1.93 1.84 1.77 1.60 1.39 1.16

.768 .740 .769 .751 .659 .473

Gender comparisons Concerning how often boys and girls think each of the given justifications as the reasons why men may be violent toward women, some differences were observed for specific items on the basis of students‟ sex (see Table C.2).

Table C.2. Mean ratings of students in regards to their attitudes toward violence per sex Boys How often do you think each of these Girls statements is a reason why men may be N M SD N M SD violent toward women? 293 2.68 0.78 15. … they cannot control their anger 399 2.89 0.72 295 2.72 0.86 12. … they are jealous 401 2.85 0.76 0.88 14. ... they consider themselves superior 296 2.55 401 2.78 0.86 to women 295 2.50 0.84 7. ...they want to control women 397 2.78 0.86 296 2.60 0.78 1. ...of alcohol or drug use 402 2.69 0.67 296 2.47 0.91 13. .... they have mental problems 397 2.75 0.83 6. ...they are physically stronger than 293 2.42 0.96 401 2.60 0.89 women 294 2.40 0.89 9. ...they were abused as children 401 2.45 0.78 296 2.30 0.83 3. ...they can‟t control their sexual urges 402 2.52 0.72 295 2.24 0.85 20. ... they can‟t take „‟no‟‟ for answer 401 2.51 0.79 295 2.43 0.81 4. ...women provoke them 400 2.04 0.65 295 2.29 0.90 11. ... they are naturally aggressive 400 2.12 0.84 294 2.02 0,85 10. ... no one stops them 401 2.19 0.85 295 2.08 0.83 2. ...they misunderstand women 401 2.11 0.77 0.82 5. ...women are not patient or tender 293 2.10 400 1.82 0.71 enough with them 295 1.87 0,76 8. ... they are under stress 398 1.83 0,72 295 1.95 0.85 17. ... women like it 401 1.65 0.68 294 1.52 0.71 16. ... society expects them to 400 1.67 0.78 18. ... that makes them attractive to 294 1.45 0.69 401 1.35 0.64 women 293 1.22 0.53 19. ... it is necessary 398 1.13 0.42 In Figure C.1, below, are presented the percentages of the answer “never”, which “cancels” the stereotypical attitude for individual justifications for “why some men are violent toward women”, per sex. In general, the pattern of responses between boys and 34

girls is quite similar. It seems, for example, that both sexes agreed that it is never a justification for some men to be violent toward women because it is necessary or because that makes them attractive to women. Therefore, the specific stereotypical justifications of male violence toward women seem to no longer be powerful. On the other hand, both boys and girls consider that men are violent toward women because they cannot control their anger, because they are jealous, because of alcohol or drug use and because women provoke them. These results suggest that although some stereotypical attitudes are not accepted by students as justifications for why men are violent towards women, there are however other stereotypes that are widely accepted. Fortunately, apart from students‟ false beliefs about the reasons leading to male violence against women, they also rated highly the real ones that, according to the related literature, are directly related to gender stereotypes of a patriarchal society and lead men to such violent behaviors, namely “because they consider themselves superior to women” and “they want to control women”.

35

% of "Never" in the statement "Some men are violent toward women because..." 88.9 82.9

19. ... it is necessary 71.8 64.6

18. ... that makes them attractive to women 49.2

16. ... society expects them to 5. ... women are not tender enough with them

34.8

17. ... women like it

33.2 34.2 32.9

8. ... they are under stress 21.4

10. ... no one stops them

58.8 61.8

45.6

29.9

20.9 25.8

2. ... they misunderstand women 5. ... women are not patient enough with them

24.2 24 20.7

11. ... they are naturally aggressive 12.7

6. ... they are physically stronger than women

7.5

20. ... they can‟t take „‟no‟‟ for answer

34.5

20.5

18.6

6.2

3. ... they can‟t control their sexual urges

15.5 10.7 15.3

9. ... they were abused as children 5

13. ... they have mental problems 14. ... they consider themselves superior to…

7

12.8 11.1

6

7. ... they want to control women

10.2 16.5 9.2 4.5 8.4 3.7 7.1 3 4.8

4. ... women provoke them 1. ... of alcohol or drug use 12. ... they are jealous

15. ... they cannot control their anger 0

10

20

Girls 30

40

50

60

Boys 70

80

90

Figure C.1. Percentages (%) of answer “Never” for individual justifications on why some men are violent toward women per sex As a general observation, it could be noted that 3 out 4 students, boys and girls, accepted that men‟s violent behaviour results from “male” characteristics such as their natural agressiveness, external factors such as the use of drugs or alcohol, stress or victimization during their childhood, and even women‟s behaviors such as they like violent men and provoke men‟s violent behavior. On the other hand, 3 out of 4 boys and 4 out of 5 girls understood that men‟s violence against women occurs because “men want to control women”, “society expects them to be violent” and “they consider themselves superior than women”. In Figures C.2.1 to C.2.6 below, the percentages of students‟ answers for each individual justification for men‟s violence against women are presented per sex. 36

... they are ... they ... they physically can‟t control ... they are cannot stronger naturally their sexual control than women urges aggressive their anger

Some men are violent toward women because... Girls Boys

Girls Boys Girls

Boys Girls Boys 0%

10% 20% 30% 40% 50% Never Sometimes Often

60% 70% Always

80%

90% 100%

Figure C.2.1 Students‟ answers in regards to justifications of men‟s violence against women related to stereotypical “male characteristics” per sex Justifications for men‟s violence against women related to stereotypically male gender characteristics seem to be accepted by both, boys and girls. Therefore, almost 8 to 9 out of 10 boys and girls considered that -at least sometimes- some men are violent toward women“because they cannot control their anger” (95.2% for boys and 96.9% for girls respectively), “because they cannot control their sexual urges” (84.4% for boys and 93.7% for girls respectively), “because they are physically stronger than women” (79.6% for boys and 87.2% for girls respectively), and “because they are naturally agressive” (79.3% for boys and 75.9% for girls respectively).

37

... of alcohol or drug use

... they have mental problems

... they were abused as children

... they are under stress

Some men are violent toward women because... Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls

Boys Girls Boys 0%

10%

20% Never

30% 40% Sometimes

50% 60% 70% Often Always

80%

90%

100%

Figure C.2.2 Students‟ answers in regards to justifications of men‟s violence against women related to external or other factors (substance abuse, stress, mental problems, victimization) per sex Students‟ responses for justifications of men‟s violence against women related to factors such as substance abuse, stress, mental problems and victimization during childhood were also stereotypical: students considered that -at least sometimes- the reasons why some men are violent toward women are “the use of drugs or alcohol” (91.6% for boys and 95.6% for girls respectively), and “because they have mental problems” (87.2% for boys and 95.2% for girls respectively). The percentages of students, both boys and girls, that considered that some men are violent against women “because they are under stress” were quite lower (67.1% for boys and 65.9% for girls respectively).

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... they are jealous

... they can‟t take „‟no‟‟ for answer

... they misunderstand women

Some men are violent toward women because... Girls

Boys

Girls

Boys

Girls

Boys 0%

20% Never

40% Sometimes

Often

60% Always

80%

100%

Figure C.2.3 Students‟ answers in regards to justifications of men‟s violence against women related to stereotypical attitudes for men‟s behaviours in the context of intimate/dating relationships per sex Moreover, justifications related to stereotypical men‟s behaviours in the context of intimate/dating relationships such as jealousy, refusal to take “no” for answer and misunderstanding of women were also accepted by students as reasons for which some men are violent against women. Specifically, more than 9 out of 10 boys and girls considered that men are violent “because they are jealous” (92.9% for boys and 96.3% for girls respectively), “because they cannot take “no” for an answer” (81.4% for boys and 92.6% for girls respectively) and more than 7 out of 10 “because they misunderstand women” (74.3% for boys and 79% for girls respectively).

39

... women provoke them

... women are not patient enough with them

... women like it

... women are not tender enough with them

... that makes them attractiv e to women

Some men are violent toward women because... Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys 0%

10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Never Sometimes Often Always

Figure C.2.4 Students‟ answers in regards to justifications of men‟s violence against women related to stereotypical attitudes for women‟s behaviours either in the context of intimate/dating relationships or in general per sex It is of note that, according to the results which are presented in Figure C.2.4, students considered that women are –at least sometimes- responsible for their victimization by men. Specifically, 9 out of 10 boys and 8 out of 10 girls considered that at least sometimes men are violent against women “because women provoke them” (90.9% for boys and 83.6% for girls respectively),“because women are not patient enough with them” (75.8% for boys and 65.5% for girls respectively), “because women like it” (66.8% for boys and 54.4% for girls respectively), and “because women are not tender enough with them” (65.2% for boys and 38.2% for girls respectively). Moreover, almost 1 out of 3 boys and girls considered that some men are violent against women “because that makes them attractive to women” (35.4% for boys and 28.1% for girls respectively). In all the above mentioned cases related to women‟s behaviors, boys held more stereotypical attitudes than girls. Girls‟ higher percentages, however, especially when concerning “women provoke men to be violent” -at least sometimes-, suggest that this stereotypical attitude, namely blaming the victim for her victimization, still remains powerful.

40

... it is necessary

Girls

Boys 0%

20% Never

40% Sometimes

60% Often

80% Always

100%

Figure C.2.5: Students‟ answers in regards to the statement “men‟s violence against women it is necessary” per sex. In contradiction with the above results are the students‟ responses to the statement “some men are violent against women because it is necessary”: even for the response “at least sometimes”, only 1 out of 10 girls and less than 2 out of 10 boys agreed.

... they want to control women

... they consider ... society themselves expects superior to ... no one women stops them them to

Some men are violent toward women because... Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys

Girls Boys 0%

10% 20% 30% 40% 50% Never Sometimes Often

60% 70% Always

80%

90% 100%

Figure C.2.6: Students‟ answers in regards to justifications for men‟s violence against women related to control of men over women per sex Finally, it is encouraging that students –apart from fault beliefs - have also realized that the reasons for which some men are violent towards women are “because they 41

want to control women” (89.9% for boys and 94% for girls respectively), “because they consider themselves superior to women” (88.8% for boys and 93% for girls respectively), “because no one stops them” (70.1% for boys and 78.5% for girls respectively) and “because society expects them to” (41.2% for boys and 50.8% for girls respectively).

D. KNOWLEDGE-MYTHS For assessing students‟ attitudes towards common myths related to gender stereotypes and stereotypical behaviors in intimate relationships, a set of 19 statements was used. Students were asked to declare whether they agree with each one of the myths on the basis of a 4-point scale (strongly disagree, disagree, agree, strongly agree). This means that the closer to 1, the more conservative is the attitude and the closer to 4, the lesser conservative it the attitude. Descriptives Mean ratings and standard deviations of students‟ agreement with statements regarding common myths related to gender stereotypes and behaviors in the context of intimate/dating relationships are presented in table D.1. It is of note that for 5 out of 19 statements, the mean ratings provided by students were more than 2.5; that means that these specific myths still remain powerful, as the students more often agreed than disagreed with the myths in question. Specifically, students agreed that “most women are concerned about whether men like them” (3.34), “if a person is being abused, they could just exit the relationship” (3.31), “sometimes girls provoke sexual aggression by boys because of the way they are dressed” (3.09), “if a boy gets really jealous about his girlfriend it proves that he really cares for her” (2.55), as well as “women are more likely to be sexually abused by a stranger than someone they know” (2.54). On the other hand, other myths seem not to be accepted by the students, given the fact that the respective ratings were very close to the answer “strongly disagree” (2 or less out of 4). This category includes statements such as “a girl who has had many sexual partners deserves to be gossiped about” (2.0), “whatever happens between either married couples or dating partners is a personal matter and other people should not interfere even if hitting or threatening is involved” (1.67 for married couples and 1.62 for dating partners respectively), and the myth “men hit women simply because they love them” (1.34). 42

Table D.1. Mean ratings and standard deviations of students‟ agreement with statements regarding common myths related to gender stereotypes and behaviors in the context of intimate/dating relationships Please indicate to what extend you agree or disagree with the M SD following statements: 18. Most women are concerned about whether men like them. 3.34 .663 11. If a person is being abused, they could just exit the 3.31 .795 relationship. 13. Sometimes girls provoke sexual aggression by boys because of 3.09 .774 the way they are dressed. 2. If a boy gets really jealous about his girlfriend it proves that he 2.55 .828 really cares for her. 10. Women are more likely to be sexually abused by a stranger 2.54 .752 than someone they know. 9. Financial difficulties are the most common reason for problems 2.48 .737 that involve violence in relationships. 3. Sometimes it helps a relationship if partners make each other 2.43 .773 jealous on purpose. 5. Women are just as likely to be violent toward their partners as 2.18 .844 men. 12. Sometimes girls are to blame when their partners hit them. 2.18 .848 1. Most of the time hitting and shouting happen in grown-up 2.16 .696 relationships and rarely in adolescent relationships. 17. Women name things as «sexual harassment» when in reality, 2.15 .832 they are only simple jokes. 4. When a girl says „no‟ to her partner‟s sexual advances this often 2.14 .815 means „yes‟. 8. Violence in relationships (e.g. hitting, pushing, and constant 2.14 .869 shouting) rarely happens among highly educated people. 15. Just slapping or pushing your partner isn‟t a form of violence. 2.12 .856 14. Violence in relationships (e.g. hitting, pushing, and constant 2.07 .788 shouting) most commonly happens among immigrant communities. 19. A girl who has had many sexual partners deserves to be 2.00 .916 gossiped about. 6. Whatever happens between married couples is a personal matter 1.67 .803 and other people should not interfere even if hitting or threatening is involved. 7. Whatever happens between dating partners is a personal matter 1.62 .747 and other people should not interfere even if hitting or threatening is involved. 16. Men hit women simply because they love them. 1.34 .631 2.29 .787 Knowledge-Myths Scale (all items)

43

Gender comparisons In Table D.2 and Figure D.1 below are presented the mean scores provided by students for each individual myth in question per sex. Overall, the difference of the responses between boys and girls are statistically significant (mean of mean scores of the 19 myths was 2.39 for boys vs. 2.22 for girls, F=64,09, df=1, p10%) are presented. For the rest of the statements boys‟ and girls‟ responses were similar (